1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to content management systems and, more specifically, to a system for cooperatively managing, sharing, and publishing rich media content access across an integrated set of media servers, Web servers, and Web sites based on control information in an online database. The system of the present invention is used for managing, sharing, and publishing rich media content including video, images, animations, audio, etc. The system provides Web-based access to media files on any number of heterogeneous media storage repositories, and it enables individual and organizational users of the system to dynamically establish media sharing and access relationships. The system can be used to build and manage departmental, interdepartmental, inter-organizational, and community media resources.
2. Description of Prior Art
On-demand Internet video access has been provided through a number of inventions for many years. In some instances the media is delivered through streaming technology that manages bandwidth between a streaming server and streaming media clients. In other cases, video is downloaded or progressively downloaded from a Web server to media clients. Media clients can be handheld mobile devices, notebook or desktop computers, or television set-top devices, and the like.
In many instances, users access video content by browsing Web pages where links to video content are present. Users click on those links to initiate the connection—whether stream or http download—between media source and media player. Often times the Web pages that provide media links are dynamically created by Web-server programs based on technologies such as Perl, PHP, Coldfusion, ASP, AJAX, and Net. These programs typically read and write meta-data, including links to media files, which are stored in flat file or relational databases. This forms the basis of a number of Web-based multimedia content management systems and mechanisms.
Content management systems that store and retrieve metadata in a database enable multiple parties to share content and collaboratively develop new content across a network. Web content management systems further enable easy management and dynamic creation of Web pages that provide access to a range of Web content and interactions, including audio and video content. Multimedia content management and sharing systems enable multiple user update, management, and access to streaming and downloadable video content.
Content delivery networks provide effective, scalable management and delivery of Internet multimedia content in the face of the considerable challenges of Internet unicast video media transmission.
Dedicated participatory video portals, such as YouTube, provide individuals with a convenient way to upload and share video content.
While all of these systems and mechanisms are useful and effective for many organizations and individuals, they are tied to monolithic, centrally managed media storage and delivery infrastructures. They also do not support self-organized, cooperative sharing of video media assets across distributed Web servers and Web sites.
As the Internet and server technologies evolve, there is a need to provide easy-to-use and flexible video media management and sharing technology that is not tied to a monolithic infrastructure or to a centrally managed content delivery network. There is also a need and demand for an easy way to manage and share video assets in a distributed, granular, and cooperative fashion, and to provide and restrict access to video content that is hosted across a mix of media hosting platforms. There is a desire by content and Web site owners to dynamically enable video sharing relationships among trusted content providers, and this content needs to be searchable and accessible via a plethora of individual, organizational, and community Web sites.